Building Character: Neptune

Monday, May 6th, 2013

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Hey folks, Steve here. I have taken over Crystal and Rose’s Building Character this week to bring you one my of personal favorite characters of all time: Neptune from Hyperdimenion Neptunia. Neptune stands out to me because she is so unlike the main characters found in other games. Besides being cute and carefree she is also one of the most powerful characters in the series, proving that you don’t have be all serious and stern to be strong.

Neptune is the goddess of Planeptune, which represents the SEGA world. Her name comes from the canceled console of the same name. She takes her duties as a goddess very lightly, is always carefree and – let’s face it – kinda lazy. She has a childlike quality to her in that she is constantly running around rushing into things head first without giving anything a second thought. In an adult world this would probably be a bad idea, but sometimes I think we all would be better off to adopt this quality, some of the time at least.

Neptune is the shortest of all the goddesses when not transformed. She has a very child-like appearance. She is one of the strongest characters in the game. Through her strength and her big personality she proves that big things come in small packages indeed. Her appearance has not changed much over the course of the series, although her hoodie-dress changed slightly for Neptunia Victory, sporting a summer look.

Neptune transformed into Purple Heart

Neptune is always giving those closest to her nicknames, such as IF becoming Iffy or Plutia becoming Plutie. She is also very – let’s just say – “hands on” with other girls. Always grabbing them from behind or tickling them until they give in to her will. Her love of her friends is only matched by her love for food. Ah yes, a woman after my own heart.

Neptune’s personality changed somewhat over the course of the series. At first she was very much like an impatient small child wanting everyone to hurry up and fix things for her. She soon learned that it was important to protect everyone depending on her. In Neptunia Mk2 she lost some of her impatient behavior and became a little bit more mature, showing that she had learned a little along the way. She is also much more caring than in the first game, especially when it comes to her sister Nep Gear, whom she often helps with confidence issues.

Neptune and Purple Heart

When Neptune transforms into her CPU form, known as Purple Heart, she is a much more straight-laced character. Purple Heart really shows her more mature and confident side. She has this confidence because, when transformed, she is the strongest of the CPUs in terms of sheer strength. Yes folks, the little one turns into your tank. Later in the series this form’s personality grows as well, becoming a bit more mature and less prideful. She is not quite the airhead in this form, notice I said “not quite.”

In an age where protagonists in games have generally become more and more cookie cutter Neptune stands above the crowd to me personally. She is completely different from most of the serious, straight-faced, leading role characters we find in today’s games. It was this light-hearted and humorous approach to the series that made me love it so much. Some see this series as just a perverted anime trope sadly. I hope someday everyone will be willing to try the Hyperdimension Neptunia series out and see that there is so much more to be found. If you haven’t done so already you can check out my review of latest game in the series: Hyperdimenion Neptunia Victory.

About Steve Baltimore

Steve started with oprainfall not long after the campaign moved from the IGN forums to Facebook. Ever since, he has been fighting to give all non-mainstream RPGs a fair voice. As the site admin, he will continue to do this and even show there is value in what some would deem "pure ecchi." He loves niche games and anime more than anything... well, except maybe Neptune.

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Good article, although I think what really holds back the Neptunia series from popularity is the fact that to get some of the humor you need to understand gaming in Japan, for instance most people will probably be confused as to why Vert who represents the 360 is infamous for porn games.

Steve Baltimore

I agree a basic understanding of the Japanese gaming industry helps to really understand the humor of the series.

I love the HDN series. Between the Not-So-Subtle hate towards Pirating games (Arfoire/ R4, anyone?), the incredibly amazing localization (and dub! I actually prefer the dub audio to the original. The last time this happened, I was watching Princess Mononoke), and the humor in the games is fantastic. Granted, I’m a bit of a Japanophile, so most of the humor makes sense to me.

Hmmmm… I need to go Platinum the other two games when I finish with Victory….

OverlordG

While I can understand Neptune being the fav character due to how surprisingly different she is from most serious JRPG and WRPG protagonists, I am not her biggest fan. I am more of a Vert person myself. Still, I cannot deny Neptune’s appeal as a character, with her being a cute and silly girl most of the time but when she transforms, no more Miss Cutie pants!

In any case, I also hope that one day, the world will lighten up and give the Neptunia series a chance. It is certainly a special series and one I am glad to be enjoying as much as I do.